My Alaska Quilt Juried into Houston!

I’m excited to announce that one of my quilts has been juried into the 2015 Houston International Quilt Festival!

I haven’t been able to blog about this piece, because it’s part of a group of quilts that celebrate the US National Parks that will be published in a book next year, and the organizer has requested that photos not be shared before publication.

There are 177 quilts in the group, and 64 were chosen to be part of a special exhibit at the Houston show at the end of October this fall. I’m trying to figure out if my show schedule will allow me to go see it!

My quilt is a vertical landscape depicting Wrangell-St. Elias National Park in Alaska, based on a trip I took with my family there last summer. It was something of a challenge to create the piece, since I’m not known for realistic quilts, but I really wanted to participate since the National Parks are near and dear to my heart. Twenty years ago, my husband and I decided to embark on a quest to take our two boys to all of the US National Parks as a family project. We haven’t quite made it to all of them, but Wrangell-St. Elias was number 50 out of 59 parks we have visited as a family. There have been several parks added in the last twenty years–I think when we started there were about 49. Of the nine we have left, five are above the Arctic Circle in Alaska and one is in American Samoa between Hawaii and Japan. Our boys are adults now and it’s harder to fit in the trips, but even if we don’t make it to all of them, it’s been an amazing adventure!

This is the second quilt I’ve had at Houston–one of the largest quilt shows in the country–and it’s a great honor to be a part of it again.

Mark your calendars for the Artfest on the Green next weekend–Saturday May 30 and Sunday May 31, 2015–on the Village Green in Great Falls, VA. It will be a celebration of the arts with 25 artists from Great Falls Studios exhibiting their work, plus a plein air painting competition sponsored by the Great Falls Foundation for the Arts. Cap off the weekend with the first free outdoor concert on the Green! Hours are 9-5 Saturday and 11-8 Sunday, ending after the concert is over. It will all take place outside the Artists’ Atelier–my new studio located at 756 Walker Road in Great Falls. I hope to see you there!